What is yalls caster, Camber and toe set at.

My car makes around 500whp and when i launch the front end picks up and the tires Camber out and toe in.

I'm trying to get some ideas as i have my own alignment machine to use.

I'm on 24.5x9x13 with skinnies in the rear.

Has omni 1000k coilovers in the rear.

 

The first items of business are the bushings. They don't necessarily need to be solid, but have to be in good condition. Alot of suspension movement while launching can be fixed with nice new oem or urethane bushings.

Rear suspension movement is very limited, especially with very stiff spring. So feel free to set the rear to zero toe and zero camber. (Note: 1000lb springs in the back are way overkill)

Front alignment setting are based on how good your suspension is. If you have stiff spring and non-adjustable struts then the car is going to lift quite abit under acceleration. So align the car with this in mind. Good suspension with the ability to adjust rebound and compression on the strut will keep the car down. This keeps the car closer to the alignment specs while launching.

Specs in the front should be close to zero.

Caster is not adjustable unless you have caster plates on top or drive an accord or prelude. Anyone that says they are adjusting caster with their traction bars doesn't have a clue! All they are doing is binding the suspension. These people get a false sense of improvement because it will bind worn out bushing and feel tight again. Total band-aid.

Goodluck. It takes alot of trial and error, but a good hooking car is well worth it

 

If you want to replace the bushing once and never replace them again, take a look at the solid Drag bushing from http://kingpinmachine.com/spherical-bearings.

 

1/8th in toe in .5 camber front

 

Whats funny is that I've been meaning to machine spherical stuff for my front LCA's, but haven't gotten around to it. My front LCA's have completely trashed OEM original bushings, lol.

Definately on my list of crap to do, 3 days before the next event as usual.

 

Do u do aligment with slicks and skinnys on and the 3 piece front end i usally do it with atock rims and tires whats the best way

 

 

can you explain to me how adjusting the caster to spec with the traction bars binds the suspension?

 

do the complaince bushing also, helps out a lot!

 

doesnt matter just make sure to set ride height first with slicks.

ahobbs, dont you mean 1/8" tow out?

 

i was going to ask the same thing, my car is 1/8 out.

 

You should setting castor up top because moving it from the bottom is just smashing the bushings one way or another. If the lca only had one pickup point it would be ok, but with 2 its not the ideal way to do it.

 

Yeah out my fault. Thanks for the correction.

 

Good plan, might be time to just call Kingpin (or one of their dealers if they have one?) and order everything. I've learned that its a lot simpler to just buy good parts and not spend all my time trying to reinvent the wheel, if it doesn't need to be re-invented, these days.

Also, we do our alignments with slicks at race pressure, front end on, driver with gear, basically ready to race. Doesn't make sense to do it any other way, you're not racing it without a front end on street tires.

 

You've been paying attention ;O)

Trying to set caster from the bottom via traction bars is negligible. Ive ****ed around on a rack a bit messing around with bar length. Moving the top of the axis is MUCH more productive :O). And this is on an Accord... The bars DO change the setting, but its seriously VERY minor.... The amounts gained either way from using the bar (s) is negligible. Also, You only need a bit anyway to keep the car tracking straight... I have my own theory why putting the wheels back via the bars works (remember Im in an accord and not biunding my LCAs :O) ), and most conceptions Ive read here go against it. And common sense. Moving bars BACK helps more than forward (Never did understand that train of thought), at least in my experience with my car... But I dont want to open that can of **** in here with my theory why, Andy and I are pretty much of the exact same opinions for the same reasons after a chat.

Even Ride height adjustment affects overall caster... Take it into consideration if you change it. (Front to back)... Go put bigger tires in the front of the car. or drop the rear and it changes.



1. set ride height (remember, you can effect Caster with it)
2. Setup Traction bar length
3. Set camber appropriately (Loosely, .5 degree to compensate 1 inch of lift., at least in my pig, Im running around -.75 Camber, or a tad more.)
4. Mycar is a street car, a TOUCH of toe adj. (The car IS going to unload the front, I need it).
5. Rear 0'ed out as close as can be (Factory for me). Feels great, on the gas AND on the brakes.


My *** in the car on the rack and on the scales, 1/4-1/2 tank gas and fighting pressure in the tires... I run around on the Racemasters at 17 PSI daily, and drop them to 10-11 on the weekends for Trolling fools.

Corner weight car, check alignment once more. Profit, at least for me. Car surprises ALOT of people how well it hooks on the street.

 

Corner balancing the front helps too

 

ABSOLUTELY... Do the whole car. It makes a big diffference :O)

 

^^ the front toes in when it raises/lifts, so you want a tiny bit of toe out to bring you near 0 when accelerating
I've set up all my friends cars this way:
Zero out the rear
If they have adjustable arms for camber I do between -.5 and -1.5 degrees camber depending how much their car is lifting
.015-.020 toe out on each side if you using a digital aligner, equals to around 1/8th" toe out
Slight backwards preload on the LCAs via traction bars (you don't wanna crank the **** out of them and bind the suspension)

 

so to properly setup traction bars, does anyone wanna chime in and explain.

 

What chassis?

 

Eg chassis.. 93 hatch.

 

i was under the assumption that you would want to toe IN a hair because under acceleration the wheels will be pulling away from the steering rack, in turn pulling on the tie rods and making it toe out MORE.

anyone agree?

i suppose that if your bushings were all tight then this would be minimal, but we're talking serious torque trying to wrench the wheels forward in the wheel wells.

 

bump for my comment^^

 

I don't really think that matters too much. Take a look at how much toe is affected by ride height. When the car is raising up, you'll be toe-ing in even further.

Personally, I set the toe to zero for what it will be doing towards the end of the track - whatever toe is at through the 60' is merely a compromise of the final adjustment for me.

 

Do you really need aftermaket rear Cambers?
or rear lower arms?